Champions Trophy: India to take on West Indies
London: India will seek to keep the momentum going when they take on an unpredictable West Indies in a crucial Group B match of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Oval on Tuesday.
Having just played the Indian Premier League, India and the West Indies are studded with key players who are aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
From an overall team perspective and build-up, India look stronger on paper. Their batting looks in awesome form with three back-to-back 300-plus scores in conditions where the ball has done a bit early in the innings.
With a slight change in the batting order, Murali Vijay was dropped to accommodate Rohit Sharma as an opener in the first match against the Proteas, and the runs came in torrents after an initial period of graft. The lessons learnt from the warm-up games were clear.
But application and pitch occupation will be crucial. India’s opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma blunted South Africa’s pace attack with a match-winning 127-run stand in the tournament’s opening game in Cardiff.
